TOLEDO, Ohio — There have been numerous shake-ups in public safety leadership in Toledo, from new offices to personnel and most recently, the retirement of the safety director himself.
Just last week, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz created a new organization to tackle violence. Shortly after, Safety Director Brian Byrd announced his retirement after a year on the job, and there have been plenty more changes before that.
The revolving door of community leaders begins in 2020 when homicides were on the rise. At the time, the mayor knew they needed the community's help to solve the issue.
"For a problem like this, we need everyone to buy in," Kapszukiewicz said at the time.
Enter JoJuan Armour, a Toledo native and former Division I athlete, recruited by the city at the start of 2021 to kickstart the Mayor's Initiative to End Gun Violence.
Armour's policy was to try to prevent crime before it could ever happen through outreach, using the city's team of newly minted violence interrupters to enter neighborhoods and work with the public especially focusing on kids and teens.
"The goal is to create mindsets for optimism and positivity, and creating healthy young people, so they, in turn, can be positive adults," said Armour in 2021.
Early data was positive: the team's work in the Junction/Englewood neighborhood showed that homicides were down 66% from the previous year.
Then, in December 2021, former fire Chief Brian Byrd was appointed as the city's new safety director, and former Oregon police officer Angel Tucker his deputy.
Byrd shared a similar vision with Armour for tackling some of the deep-seated issues required to fix the city.
"If we are actually out there, talking with the people, and they see we're sincere about it, then that helps with that relationship," Byrd said in 2021.
But only a few months later, Armour suddenly resigned.
In March 2022, WTOL 11 asked Armour if he felt he was getting the proper resources from the mayor.
"Yeah, I don't wanna answer that one. That's not one I feel comfortable answering," Armour said.
Now down a leader for the initiative, the city soon found a replacement in David Bush, who at the time was co-chair of Youth Engagement and Empowerment.
Bush, Tucker and Byrd remained the faces of community safety throughout the remainder of 2022 into the beginning of 2023. And the number of homicides again showed a decline compared to the previous year.
Their next step was to begin working in troubled local schools.
"Unfortunately, we have a lot of teenagers involved in these shootings, so we have to find a way to reach those kids," said Byrd in 2023.
But none of the three men remained in their positions long enough to see out that vision.
First Angel Tucker was removed during a restructuring of government. Then Bush was shifted back to youth programming.
Then, in May, the mayor announced an entirely new organization - the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement - giving political newcomer Malcolm Cunningham full control of the violence interrupters and community safety operations, relieving Brian Byrd of those duties.
Byrd announced his retirement from the role a week later.
Now, Toledo City Council member Cerssandra McPherson said she's worried the revolving door will just start spinning again.
"Unless the administration allows people that are to be doing what they do to do, it'll be another six months and it'll be someone else," said McPherson.
Additionally, all but one of the five men have no formal police training, and council member George Sarantou says he hopes whoever takes over as safety director will have that skillset.
"These are extraordinarily challenging times for the city. Especially with crime and the homicide rate and violent crime and so many guns on the street. There are so many retirees that were deputy chiefs, that were captains, lieutenants, sergeants, that are very well qualified, and I think that would enhance the mission of the police department at this point in time," said Sarantou.
WTOL 11 reached out to the mayor's office for comment.
They cited recent decreases in many types of crimes, saying they feel efforts they've made over recent years are making a difference, and they hope the mayor's newly created office pays dividends for years to come.